Putin announces ‘partial mobilisation’ of Russia and threatens nuclear retaliation. What is Europe’s response to the ongoing conflict?

The sweeping gains made by Ukrainian forces east of Kharkiv, which left thousands of Russian soldiers in disarray and severely compromised Russian supply lines, were considered a turning point in the ongoing war.

Putin has responded with a call for a ‘partial mobilisation’ of Russia and threatened nuclear retaliation. Over safety concerns, in Ukraine, the last reactor at Zaporizhizhia nuclear plant has been shut down.

Ukraine’s advance has been hailed as a moment of hope by European leaders. They remain united in calling for more financial and military support for Ukraine despite rising inflation, a cost-of-living crisis, and the possibility of energy rationing at home, but how long will political support for Ukraine within Europe last and how deep are the divisions about how best to support Ukraine?

This event is delivered in partnership with Pranvera Smith, Director & Founder of the Frontline Club and the FT 

Speakers:

Chris Morris is a writer and broadcaster, a foreign correspondent with the BBC for more than 25 years, based in Colombo, Washington, Istanbul, Brussels and Delhi. He spent ten years during two postings as Europe correspondent, reporting from across the continent, including from Kiev during the Maidan revolution in 2014. He’s also an expert in EU politics and UK/EU relations. He returned to London in 2016 to lead the BBC’s on-air fact-checking team, before leaving the BBC earlier this year.

Hannah Lucinda Smith, author of Erdogan Rising: A Warning to Europe (HarperCollins William Collins 2019), and based in Istanbul for over ten years, has covered conflicts, a coup attempt and the rise of controversial president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. During her time in the region, largely writing for The Times as their Turkey correspondent, Hannah has also reported on the Middle East, from inside rebel-held Syria, on the front lines of the battle against Isis in Iraq, and joined the mass movement of migrants on their journey to Europe in 2015. Hannah is also co-author of the forthcoming Zarifa: A Woman’s Battle in a Man’s World, the memoir from Zarifa Ghafari, who at 24 became Afghan’s youngest female mayor, inspiring the soon-to-be-premiere documentary film based on her life: In Her Hands.

Victor Mallet is a journalist, commentator and author with more than three decades of experience in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He is currently Paris bureau chief for Financial Times, and has been previously worked as Asia editor and Asia news editor based in Hong Kong. He has written books on the River Ganges and on the modernisation of south-east Asia. Based in Europe, after Asia, Africa, Middle East

Michael Bociurkiw, based in Lviv, is a global affairs analyst. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and author of Digital Pandemic: How tech went from bad to good. His professional life can basically be divided into two pillars: journalism and humanitarian aid/public affairs. As a journalist he’s had the privilege of having his work published in some of the finest media outlets in the world – as a staffer and as a freelancer.

Joining us from Ukraine, Kavita Sharma, a correspondent for the German TV, RTL News, recently awarded Intermedia Globe Gold for her reporting from Ukraine. Prior to this, she worked for Al Jazeera English as a producer at the channel’s Berlin bureau and covered Ukraine during the war 2014/2015 on a regular basis.

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